Brighton's Eurovision hopeful not disappointed to have missed out on final

A SINGER from Brighton has spoken of her “magical” Eurovision experience and insisted she has no negative feelings about not winning.

Aimie Atkinson’s girl group Goldstone lost out to SuRie in qualification event Eurovision: You Decide, held at Brighton Dome and screened on BBC Two on Wednesday evening.

Goldstone’s I Feel The Love was the last song to be performed at the live show. Aimie, 30, said she wasn’t disappointed to have missed out on the chance to perform for her country.

She said: “I didn’t feel down that we didn’t win, I just felt really positive about the future. There was no competitiveness about the whole night.

“Helen [Wint] from my band said she thought she would be really competitive about it but she said afterwards that she still felt good. I thought, ‘me too’ – it was just a really magical and surreal event.”

SuRie, real name Susanna Cork, will represent the UK at the Eurovision final in Lisbon in May after her song Storm propelled her to victory in Brighton.

Aimie heaped praise on SuRie’s performance.

“You could tell her song was a winner almost as soon as it finished,” she said. “It’s a cracking tune and the audience loved it. It’s going to do well in Lisbon and we’re all behind her.”

Eurovision: You Decide was watched by an estimated seven million people on BBC Two but Aimie added that she and her bandmates didn’t feel the pressure of singing in front of the eyes of the nation.

She said: “We were so calm. If you think about it, being broadcast to that many people is crazy.

“I’m glad we didn’t think about it too much. We did a good job. We did the best we could and we did ourselves proud so we’re feeling good now.”

Despite only moving to Brighton from London last year, Aimie said that performing at Brighton Dome felt like a true hometown show.

“I performed at the Theatre Royal before I moved here and, in a way, I felt like I was at home then. So to be playing at The Dome really felt like I’d come full circle.

“Regardless of the result, it’s going to be a good platform for us and fingers crossed something comes from it.”

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